A Lid For Every Box
by Newgirl78
Summary: Sometimes you have to face your mistakes, do your best to make it right, and then tuck the memory away so you can move on. **How I helped myself to put aside my feelings on "that episode".**


_****Disclaimer: **_I do not own New Girl. If I did, I probably wouldn't have had to write this in the first place** ;-)

It's no secret that I wasn't a fan of that episode, but we all know what they're capable of, so I'll give them a pass.

* * *

Once they were finally outside the bank, Nick bent his knees and Jess' feet quickly found the pavement. She let out a small laugh and bit her lip. They stood staring at each other for a moment, an awkward silence settling between them. When she finally spoke, it was barely a whisper.

"I um, I'm glad everything worked out."

Nick frowned, reaching his hand out and pushing a curl behind her ear. Her gaze fell to the ground and he reluctantly pulled his hand away. "Jess, can I say something?" She shrugged her shoulders, finally glancing up at him. He could see a distance in her eyes, something that made him feel very uneasy. He realized in that moment that he may have just screwed up the best thing he had going in his life, and it was over something that he had done to himself. Something that she had only tried to make better. He breathed in sharply and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'll be back at the loft in an hour." He started to step away from her and her eyes went wide.

"Nick, where are you going?!"

"Go home, I'll meet you there." He was already halfway to his car at the end of the block, turning briefly to yell back to her. "Just trust me."

Jess stood dumbfounded on the sidewalk as she watched Nick climb into his car and drive away. She shook her head in frustration as she dug for her keys in her purse and made her way back to the car. Once inside, she brushed a tear off her cheek and muttered softly to herself, "could this day get any worse?"

* * *

Back in the loft, Jess padded her way from the kitchen back to her room with a steaming cup of tea. Sitting down on the bed, she closed her eyes to take a sip and let the hot liquid run down her throat. She kicked her legs in front of her and leaned back on the pillow, closing her eyes and enjoying the quiet of the loft. After a few minutes, she turned to place the tea on her night stand and curled onto her side.

What a miserable few days it had been. She had wanted so badly to try and help Nick make his troubles _really _disappear, yet all she had done was make him angry. She thought back to their fight and the awful things he had said. She knew she had made a mistake trying to fix everything in the box, but she hadn't even gotten the chance to really apologize or explain. And even though everything had seemed okay at the bank, the last thing she wanted him to do was open a bank account because she thought he should. His words were sweet, she just wished that they had come under different circumstances.

She felt the tears well in her eyes again as she finally felt the weight of the past few days too much to hold in. She sobbed quietly into the pillow and by the time Nick had quietly entered the loft, she had fallen asleep.

When Nick arrived home, he went to straight to Jess' room with a shopping bag in his hand. He stopped in his tracks when he walked in and found her asleep. He was about to turn and leave, when he noticed the trail of tears on her cheek. He took a deep breath and knelt down next to the bed, his heart sinking as he studied her face. Her long eyelashes were wet and there was a trail of moisture from her eyes to a darkened spot on her pillow. He swallowed hard and felt a tightness in his chest. He was so sure he had made everything better at the bank, but instead, just made her more upset. He was completely lost as to how to fix this. His took a deep breath, his heart pounding in his ears as he stood up quietly and left the room, pulling the door closed behind him.

Turning on his heels, Nick walked across the hall. Slowly he made his way to his bed, and tossed the bag next to him. Sinking onto the bed, he leaned his elbows on his knees and took a few deep breaths. _What could he possibly say to fix all this? _He had been so angry and overwhelmed about the money, and had completely taken it out on Jess. He cared about her so much, and everything between them this past month had been amazing. He knew he had said some horrible things, but he never imagined he had hurt her this badly. He wished he knew how to fix it.

He ran his hands through his hair and sat up. As he raised his eyes, they settled on the box directly across from him still on the floor of his closet. THAT DAMN BOX. The thing that had started their whole fight in the first place. _Maybe she was right, maybe it was time to finally face the mess that he had made of his life. _He started to feel his blood temperature rise just thinking about it, when something bright pink caught his eye. Confused, he stood up and stepped over to the box. Taking a seat in front of the closet, he slid it along the floor and leaned over the top. He took a deep breath and reached inside, his brow furrowed. What _was_ all this? One stack at a time, Nick pulled out clusters of papers clipped together with different colored pieces of paper on top. On each paper, there was a detailed note in Jess' neat handwriting. He shook his head as he read each one. Underneath all of the small stacks was a pile of folders, each one a different color. He quickly opened one, flipping through it and tossing it back.

_What had he DONE?_

He shook his head frantically and quickly scooped up all of the paperwork and threw it back in the box.

_No, no, NO. This couldn't be happening._

He jumped up off the floor, grabbing the box in both his hands and ran across the hall. Doing his best to balance the box on his knee, he knocked frantically on Jess' door. He didn't care if she was still asleep, he had to talk to her.

"Jess...Jess, can I please come in?!"

When he didn't hear a response, he just shook his head and grabbed the doorknob, muttering a "screw it"as he threw open the door and stumbled into the room, the box dropping to the floor with a thud.

Jess jumped and sat up, startled by the noise. She sniffled, looking up at him groggy and annoyed. "What are you doing, Nick. I was asleep!"

Nick reached into the box and grabbed several stacks of paper, before sitting on her bed. She pulled her legs underneath her and stared at him. "Jess, what is all this?"

She just stared at him blankly, her eyes still puffy and wet. It took her a moment to blink the sleepiness from her eyes. She shook her head gently and opened her eyes widely to look at him.

"Jess, what did you..." He swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Did you actually fix everything in here?" His breathing became heavy and he stared at her confused.

"I...I just..." She shook her head slowly, brushing a hand across her cheek. She cleared her throat and spoke nervously. "Not everything."

He started to page through the stacks in his hand, shaking his head with increasing vigor before looking up at her again. "I don't understand how you did this."

She took a deep breath and cautiously reached her hand out toward the papers in his hand. Glancing up at him, she hesitated. "Can I show you?"

He just nodded silently, eyes focused on hers. She tentatively took the stack in her hands, placing them on her lap briefly to dry her palms on the skirt of her dress. Picking up one of the stacks, she pulled the pink paper loose from the paperclip. Glancing up at him quickly then back down at the paper, she pointed to it and sniffled. "See, that's the date." She shrugged. "yesterday, because that's when I paid it. And...that's the amount." She placed the stack back down on the bed and flipped through the others he had handed her. Shaking her head, not finding what she was looking for, she slid off the bed and knelt down in front of the box. Squinting her eyes, she rifled through the box for a moment before pulling a stack out with a different colored paper.

"And, this one..." She held it up for him to see, as he slowly slid off the bed and sat next to her on the floor, nodding. She pulled the paper off and held it to the paper in front of her, pointing. "This green one? Well, I could only do a partial payment here, so ...this is what was paid and when, and then..." She took a deep breath, glancing up at him and giving a small smile before returning her focus to the paper. "this is what you still owe where it's highlighted. I talked to most of them and if you pay the remainder in full, I talked them into waiving the penalty fees. Those are..." She bit her lip and rummaged around in the box once again, nervously staring at Nick's stiff expression. "those are highlighted in blue."

She raised her eyes to Nick's once again and stared for several moments as Nick just sat frozen next to her. Finally, she just shook her head and placed the papers back in the box, tears forming once again in her eyes. She started to stand up when Nick reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Jess..."

She slowly sat back down, staring at his hand on her arm. She took a deep breath and shook her head, quickly swiping at her moist eyes. "Look. I know it was none of my business and I'm so sorry. It's your money and what I did was really, _really_ horrible. But..." Her voice quieted to a whisper. "You didn't need to be so mean, Nick. I didn't do it just to piss you off. We're together...and..." She swallowed hard, glancing down at her hands as she pulled away from his grasp. "Maybe I like doing things like this for you. Maybe..." She took a deep breath and raised her eyes to his. "maybe that's just my way of taking care of _you_."

Nick took a deep breath, his shoulders slumping forward and his hands falling in his lap. He closed his eyes against the spinning sensation he was feeling.

She stared at him closely, until she could take the silence no longer. "Nick, just say something. Be angry, scream at me again, ...anything."

His eyes darted to hers and he grabbed her hand, holding it in both of his. "Thank you."

She narrowed her eyes, surprised. "Thank you?"

"Yes." He gave her a hesitant smile. "I didn't want you to see all this. I just thought if you did, you would..."

She smiled slowly and took a deep breath, relief evident across her face. Before she could say anything, he dropped her hand and stood up. Jess watched him as he ran quickly across the hall, and before she could shout over to him and see what was going on, he returned with a bag in his hand.

He sat down next to her and placed the bag in her lap. "Look, I wanted you to have this because...because I was an idiot."

She glanced up at him and he gave a small smile. Reaching into the bag, she pulled out a shimmery bright pink floral clutch. She let out a small giggle, as she ran her fingers over it slowly. "Nick, this is really sweet of you, but..."

He just smiled. "It's pretty glamorous for my old lady, right?" He winked. "It even has flowers on it!"

She let out a laugh. "It's definitely not boring." Her smile quickly faded, as she bit her lip and watched Nick closely.

"I'm sorry, Jess. I am. And..." He reached out and took the purse in his hand, unzipping it. He pulled a piece of paper out and handed it to Jess. "You know I'd never actually take your money, right?"

She shook her head slowly and took the check in her hand. "But I thought the bank..."

"Jess," He laid the purse down in front of him, reached up to put his hands on either side of her face. She raised her eyes slowly, blinking several times. "I am sorry that I hurt you. Sorry for everything." He took a deep breath. "For yelling, for making fun of you, for making you feel bad..."

She shook her head slowly. "And I'm sorry I did all that behind your back. I really thought that you were just overwhelmed, I thought..." She closed her eyes for a moment, then looked back into his and continued. "I thought I could make it better." She shrugged. "Make it _really_ go away for you."

He stared at her for a moment, suddenly realizing how much it meant to him that she would have done all this for him. He nodded decisively. "Okay. I can take it. Give it to me straight." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hands balling into fists in his lap. "How much do I still owe?"

Without pause, she answered as he cringed with every word. "$487 to a company that sells jet skis, $207 to "Steaks and Sauces", $45 on a GAP VISA... Which, by the way, I'm REALLY curious about..." She started laugh and then stopped when she saw the look on his face.

He flinched. "There's more isn't there?"

She shrugged her shoulders, raising her eyebrows. "That's pretty much it, actually. You know most of that paper was just them re-sending the bill to get you to pay it, right?"

His eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"Really."

He nodded. "Okay, and the other stuff in here?"

"Well, the folders are all your important papers Nick and ..." She gently poked him in the chest. "you really need to take a look at all of them, okay. You could be in serious trouble for not filing taxes. The longer you wait...the..." She gave him a stern look. "Just do it."

He nodded, staring at her for a moment and speaking quietly. "If you're willing to do all that work for me, I'm going to make this right."

"Nick, this isn't for _me_. You know that, right?"

He shook his head and frowned. "Yeah, yeah I know. It's...it's for me."

She sighed in relief and leaned in to give him a hug. She held tight to him for a moment as he kissed the top of her head. Pulling back, her voice was quiet as her eyelids fluttered lazily, her blue eyes gazing into his. "I really am crazy about you, Miller. Stupid box and all."

A smile slowly crept across his face and he dropped his hands to grab hers. "I deserved a little kick in the ass, I admit it." He glanced up at her, his head suddenly jumbled. He was quiet for a moment, suddenly nervous. "I...I've never had someone care about me this much before. It's...nice."

They stared at each other for a moment, neither one of them moving. Jess felt Nick's thumbs slowly start to run across her knuckles and she broke their gaze and leaned forward to press a soft kiss to his lips. She started to pull him closer when he snapped his head back, excited.

"Oh wait, you have to see this!" He reached into the pocket of his shirt and produced a receipt, holding it up and pointing to the bottom. "I even used an American Express card to pay for your purse!"

"Um, I'm not sure that's such a..." She looked at him skeptically. "Nick, you don't HAVE an American Express card." She sighed. "Is there another box somewhere?"

He frowned and rolled his eyes at her. "NO. It was one of those you can buy like a gift card."

She shook her head confused. "Wait, why would buy a gift card to use when you could have just used your cash?"

"Well, I wanted to practice...with the card..." She just stared at him, her expression unchanged. "Because of the bank one and...you know, the one they have to send me that's forcing me to own a wallet?" He smiled excitedly.

"Nick...you can't..." She watched his expression carefully, closing her mouth quickly and trying not to laugh. "I think...I think you're _kind of _getting the idea..."

He hung his head and laughed, a huge smile on his face. He reached out to rub his hands up and down her arms and she flipped the purse over in her hands.

"Nick, this is really pretty and it was incredibly sweet to think of me, but...I think you should return it." She watched his face fall and she whispered softly. "You really can't afford it and..." She let out a small laugh. "I do have a lot of purses."

He pushed it back in her lap, his voice faltering. "Please keep it. I don't know when..." He looked at her sadly. "I don't know when I'll ever be able to buy something like this for you again."

She smiled softly and reached up to sweep her fingers across his forehead. "You don't need to, you know." He swallowed hard and looked down at his hands as he ran his fingers along the fabric of her skirt. Placing a hand under his chin she dipped forward and kissed him softly. "I really love the gift, Nick."

* * *

Every box has a lid...to cover it up, tuck it in a deep, dark attic...and never speak of it again. AmIright, roomfriends?

And to the REAL writers of these brilliant characters... I don't want to have to do this again. ;-)


End file.
